


All I want for Christmas is to not be broken

by orphan_account



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Christmas AU, F/F, Grouchy!Ruby, elf!alexa, holiday au, rulexa, slightly angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 14:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16641633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alexa is santa's head elf until she gets demoted. In order to win back her position, Santa sends her on what feels like an unwinnable mission. She must restore holiday cheer to one Ruby Riott, who is lowkey kind of a Grinch.





	All I want for Christmas is to not be broken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [riottkick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riottkick/gifts).



\- The North Pole-

Being an elf came with its perks during Christmas time. Things at the North Pole always seemed to speed up, with last minute toys being worked on, the months before Christmas. Alexa Bliss had been Santa's top elf for close to four years now, she had the best toy output and as strange as it sounded, she loved being an elf. 

She was proud of her job but she had started to get lazy and a bit bossy. She had been delegating more and more of her day to day operations to the lower ranking elves. As an elf, Alexa didn't always get what she felt was fair vacations. She had been busting her ass for Santa the last fifteen years, ever since she had turned ten and was old enough to work in the workshop. 

Elves tended to start working at a young age in the North Pole. Alexa was proud to have become Santa's top helper, proud that she was always invited over to dinners with him and his wife. They had adopted her and helped raise her in a lot of ways, which made the unexpected call to his office all the more confusing. 

She knocked on his door and walked in, surprised to see Santa looking over some official looking paperwork. "Hello." Alexa greeted. 

The man in red glanced up at her and sighed softly. "Take a seat, Alexa, we need to talk." He said cutting right to the chase. 

Alexa was confused but sat down in the chair in front of his desk. She didn't like his tone of voice, it was giving her some severe anxiety "What is this about Santa?" 

"I've heard some reports from the other elves that you have been taking shortcuts. Slacking off and shifting your work onto them. I didn't want to believe it at first, but I've been watching Alexa and I'm sad to say it, but I'm disappointed in you." The man gave her a sad smile and simply shook his head. 

Alexa frowned a little bit. "I'm just tired, and besides the others didn't mind helping me. Which one of them complained, I am sure it’s just a misunderstanding. I’ll sort it right out." She insisted, wondering which one of the others ratted her out. She was going to have their heads for making her look bad. 

“Taking advantage of your friends is not the behavior fitting a good elf,” Santa warned, his eyes darkening, causing Alexa to slink down in her seat. His disappointment was evident and Alexa shifted uncomfortably. 

“How can I amend my mistakes? I can work some extra shifts.” She offered, not wanting him to continue being angry. Alexa favorite thing was being Santa's head elf, it was the one thing that she felt made her special. 

The man considered her for a moment and then looked at his computer. He had modernized and after some typing, he printed out a piece of paper and stapled a picture to it. “I’m demoting you Alexa, but in the spirit of the holidays, I’ll give you a chance to earn back your spot. You must take somebody off the naughty list and restore the Christmas spirit inside of them.”

Alexa looked at the photo, her brow crinkling as she read the name off of the paper. "I am supposed to restore Christmas spirit to some woman named Dori Prange?" She asked, noticing the visible tattoos on the girl's body. Alexa usually did her best not to judge but the woman looked like a total Grinch.

Santa gave her an unamused look, for somebody who was supposed to be jolly, he didn't look to be in much of a chipper mood. "Alexa show her Christmas spirit or don't come back until next Christmas." 

Alexa's eyes widened and her frown deepened. Surely he was joking with her, he wasn't really going to banish her for a whole year, was he? "Please, I am willing to do anything, but you know that some cases are harder to fix than-"

The man in red cut her off and frowned, rising to his full height. "You will restore Ms. Prange's Christmas spirit or so help me you will be fired." He roared loud enough to cause the elf to shrink back. 

"First off that was really rude Santa," Alexa said, her eyes narrowing. "Secondly I'll restore her Christmas spirit just to spite you." She grumbled rising to her feet. She was furious now, and she did not like to be yelled at, she was motivated now just to get back at the man. 

The blonde eff walked out of his office and walked to the reindeer stables, where her best friend Nia was feeding them. Nia had fucked up recently too so she was stuck doing grunt work. 

"I need to borrow one of the reindeer. I'm on a mission from the big man." Alexa said, walking up to one of Santa's faithful. 

Nia snorted softly. "No way in hell he'd let you take one of his sleigh reindeer Bliss. What kind of stunt are you trying to pull?" Nia didn't wish to get in more trouble. However, she knew that Alexa was a determined elf and when Alexa was determined bad shit was about to go down. 

“I need to get to the United States. I need a reindeer.” Alexa said, stamping her foot impatiently into the snow-covered floor of the stable. 

Nia snorted softly, not at all moved by her little display. “You can take Larry-Steve.” She offered, deciding to help just a little bit. 

Alexa’s face softened at the name. Larry-Steve was the runt of one of the latest litters. He wouldn’t have survived but Alexa had insisted to Santa that he deserved a chance and she had bottle fed him and took care of him. Now he was used by Santa on shorter range missions.

“I’ll take him,” Alexa said, thankful that at least Nia would let her take one of them. Alexa walked over to Larry-Steve’s pen and strapped a saddle around him. She then mounted the small reindeer, ignoring Nia who was trying not to laugh at the smaller elf, riding the smallest reindeer. 

Alexa steered the reindeer towards the makeshift little runway. Larry-Steve was deaf, but Alexa knew just the right signals to communicate with him. It was one of their stronger bonds together. With a deep breath, she gently spurred his side, causing the little reindeer to take off and up into the night sky. 

Ignoring the bitter windchill, Alexa tapped the coordinates of her mission into her special wristwatch. It would get her to where she needed to go to in Indiana. Once that was set, she gently patted the reindeer’s neck, trying to reassure them both, that they’d be okay. 

\-----  
\- In Layfette Indiana-

Dori Prange, better known to everybody in her small town as Ruby Riott, sat in her small family-owned used bookshop. The twenty-seven-year-old had seen enough holidays come and pass in the town, that she knew better than to get involved. She had moved to the town when she was seven-years-old. Her grandpa had been sick, and her family had moved to the small town to take care of him. 

He had bravely fought his cancer and managed to make it another nine years, dying when Ruby was sixteen. His death hit her hard and in a lot of ways broke her family. He had died the day after Christmas, but she remembered the house being deathly still, her family crowded around his hospital bed in the living room.

It was the loneliest Christmas and for over ten years Ruby had sworn off the holiday seasons. She celebrated Halloween and if she felt like it Thanksgiving, but never Christmas and never the New Year. She just wasn't a holiday type of person, it wasn't the holidays without her grandpa. 

Her grandpa had owned the bookshop where she now worked, he had left it to her in his will, and it was given to her when she turned twenty-one. Her mother and father had kept it for her, then once they handed it over, they had left the city. Not Ruby though, Ruby couldn't bring herself to leave even if the place was haunted by memories. 

Ruby had done online school so she could stay and run the bookstore, she had gotten her degree in business. She was pretty successful too, helping other people in town. She helped her friend Liv who ran the local bar, Ruby had spent a good two months helping redecorate it. They had named it 'The Riott' after the name of their little high school group. Ruby also helped out their other friend Sarah who worked as a sort of lumberjack. During the holiday season though, Sarah would run the Christmas tree lots, so she was around a lot more to see her friends. 

The trio was as thick as thieves, but not even Ruby's best friends could get her into the holiday spirit. They knew why she was sad, but Ruby wasn't really the type of woman who wanted to talk about her feelings. Most days Ruby just sat inside her bookshop, avoiding the day that she'd have to confront the pain and loneliness inside. 

"Hey Rue-Rue, you should have a holiday sale. Maybe you could make some extra bank, those artsy parents love buying their kids books for the holidays." Liv said as she walked along the aisle, helping Ruby shelve books. They were a team Liv would lend a hand at Ruby's bookshop until 'The Riott' opened, and then when Ruby closed the bookshop at eight, she'd stop by for two hours or so to help Liv serve drinks at the bar. 

Ruby gave her an unamused look and just scoffed. "I wouldn't call it a holiday sale, maybe just a winter sale." Ruby knew that it was a good time to try and promote her product. It was December the third and everybody was still doing their last-minute gift grabbing. 

"So do you got any plans this year?" Liv asked, trying not to sound as hopeful as she was. Liv and Sarah normally spent the holidays with Ruby, but this year Sarah had a family thing and Liv was going back to New Jersey to visit some family. 

"Nope." Ruby said popping the 'p' in the word. "I'll be fine though, I can just curl up with a few good books this year and sleep. Merry Christmas to myself." 

Liv frowned, her heart was aching for Ruby. She knew how badly her friend was hurting inside, but she also was aware that pressing the issue would cause Ruby to get defensive. 

"You can still come with me to Jersey if you change your mind." Liv offered, before letting the conversation drop. Ruby no doubt would probably end up at The Riott, working the bar for the other people alone on Christmas. 

The door to the bookstore opened, causing a little dinging sound to ring through the bookstore. Ruby looked at the clock, it was only eight-thirty, and she didn't open until nine. Ruby wandered to the front of her business to find a short blonde girl standing at the counter. 

"Sorry, we're not open yet," Ruby said, putting on her best customer service voice. 

"It's okay I can come back." The blonde said, turning to look at Ruby. The first thing Ruby noticed was that the girl's eyes were strikingly blue, the second was that she seemed far to chipper for that early in the morning.

Ruby watched the girl start to leave before she hesitated. "Do you know what book you were looking for in particular?" She called out, the blonde turned to look at her confused. "I just...it's kind of colder than a grave digger's heart outside. So if you know what book you were looking for, I can get it for you and then you don't have to come back." Ruby explained, mentally cursing herself out for losing her cool. 

"Right, well I am looking for The Christmas Story. I love holiday books, so if you have any you could recommend that'd be great..." The blonde trailed off, clearly looking for Ruby's name. 

Ruby shifted uncomfortably. "My name is Ruby." She supplied, before turning and walking to the back corner of the bookshop to get some of the holiday books for the blonde. Ruby had never seen her before, but it wasn't too uncommon to have strangers come through the town, especially if they were visiting family. 

"My name is Alexa Bliss." Alexa gave her a wide smile, flashing all her teeth. "It's nice to meet you, Ruby, I noticed you don't have any decorations up..."

Ruby groaned quietly to herself, of course, the blonde would have a stripper name. "Not really a holiday person, did Sarah set you up to come in here and prank me?" Ruby asked, turning her attention back to the shorter girl. 

Alexa looked confused. "Who's Sarah?"

"That's really fun, of course, she would try to hire me a stripper for the holidays. Look whatever she is paying you I'm not interested." Ruby was clearly thinking that Sarah had tried to set her up. 

"A stripper? You think I'm a stripper?" Alexa asked, her voice rising in anger. She stamped her foot, pouting at Ruby. "Are you always this rude to your customers?" 

Ruby looked confused. "But your name, you have a total stripper, porn star name," Ruby explained, wondering if she was perhaps insulting an actual customer. 

Liv who had walked up during the exchange was doubled over laughing her ass off. "Oh my god, you can't talk shit about people's names Rue-Rue."

Ruby glared at her friend. "Shut up Olivia."

Liv grimaced at the use of her name. "Don't call me that Dori." 

The two best friends glared at each other, neither liking the use of their real first names. However, it was Alexa who interrupted still pissed off at being called a stripper. 

"You are really not a nice person. Bliss is a family name from my grandpa." Alexa remarked, looking angry. The Elf was five feet of pure fury, ready to explode on Ruby for insulting her. 

"Was he a porn star though, that's the real question?" Liv asked, unable to help herself, which caused Ruby to bust out into laughter. 

"No he was the head el-" Alexa caught herself and let out an angry sigh. She knew she needed to rein in her temper. "You both are assholes." She muttered, dropping the books she was going to buy and storming out. 

Ruby watched the short blonde leave, before lightly hitting Liv's arm. "Way to go jackass, you chased away my customers." 

Liv winced and pinched Ruby's arm. "Pretty sure you lost that sale when you called her a stripper, dipshit." Liv sighed, 

Ruy looked at the books that Alexa had dropped and picked them up. "I feel kind of bad."

"Well I know you, Rue, you'll find a way to make things right." Liv hugged her best friend, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "I gotta go decorate the bar, I'll see you later?" 

"Yeah, I'll see you later," Ruby promised, before walking to the front of the store. She couldn't leave yet but maybe somebody knew this Alexa Bliss girl and could tell Ruby where to send the books. She hated feeling guilty and hated that she had kind of made fun of Alexa for her name. Even if she didn't have Christmas spirit at the very least, Ruby didn't want to be a total asshole. 

\---  
Alexa was pissed as she wandered down the streets of Layfette, angry that the girl she was supposed to be helping was indeed a total Grinch. Maybe being the head elf wasn't worth it as much as she had originally thought. Alexa had hidden Larry-Steve away so that he wouldn't get noticed by the people. 

"That woman is a monster," Alexa muttered, wondering what kind of person somebody would have to be, to not even decorate for the holidays. In the North Pole, everything was decorated almost year round, they sang holiday songs. Being in a place where there were hardly any lights was making her sad. 

She saw the Christmas Tree lot up ahead on the corner and went to investigate. Apparently, the lot had taken over an old parking lot, but at the very least it looked more decorative than half the town. 

Alexa walked up to see a woman with long brown hair in braids. The girl had an ax hanging through a belt loop, and if Alexa didn't know any better the girl looked like a crazy serial killer. 

"Um...how much is a small tree?" Alexa asked, maintaining a good distance just in case the girl did appear to be crazy. 

"Oh um, well Logan family farms tend to sell the weaker trees off, but I think we got a small one in the back." The girl had a heavy southern accent, and it brought a smile to Alexa's face. 

The elf knew she needed to not judge the people. "Alright thank you. I'm Alexa." She made sure not to mention her last name this time. 

"Sarah, Sarah Logan." Sarah brought the tree up to Alexa and gave her a smile. "You new in town, I don't reckon I've seen you before." 

Alexa nodded slowly. "Yeah just stopping by for the holidays. Your bookstore own is kind of a Grinch."

Sarah's features darkened for a moment. "You'll have to excuse Ruby, holidays aren't really her thing. I am sure she didn't mean to offend you but cut her some slack. She makes a better second impression than a first one." Sarah said coming to Ruby's defense.

"You two are friends?" Alexa was curious now, wondering if she could pump Sarah for information about Ruby's past. She needed to stick to the mission and get Ruby filled with some holiday cheer. 

"Best friends and I have a feeling you'll ask why she is grouchy but it's not my story to tell. Just steer clear of her, and try to avoid Liv as well." Sarah was protective over her friends. She knew that Ruby had her reasons for lacking Christmas joy. 

Alexa gave a little scoff. "So you're the only one out of your group who has Christmas spirit?"

"No, Liv loves the holidays. We just don't throw it in Ruby's face like other people try to. You might have good intentions sweetheart but don't mess with Ruby, she's been through enough." Sarah warned, her hand resting on the head of the ax, a subtle warning of its own. 

Understanding the threat, Alexa simply paid for her tree. "Got it, don't bug the grumpy bookstore owner." 

Sarah cracked a small smile. "Now you're getting it blondie. Enjoy your tree." She said handing it over and watching as Alexa kept eyes on her and backed off the lot slowly. 

Alexa was a bit unnerved by Sarah, to say the least. However she wasn't deterred, she was going to give Ruby holiday cheer one way or another.   
\----

Later that day Alexa found herself at the bar, it was really the only bar in town and she wanted a drink. She felt like she deserved one after the day she had. She had waited for Ruby to go out on lunch break and had gone to decorate Ruby's bookstore for her. She had put up lights and trees, but Ruby's reaction was not what she had expected. When Ruby saw it, she didn't cry tears of joy. No Ruby looked down right pissed. 

Ruby had torn down the lights Alexa had set up, she kicked over the Christmas tree, she smashed the ornaments. Ruby then dragged the mess outside of her bookstore and promptly started crying. The punk girl repeatedly kicked the trash can, before storm back inside and locking the door to her business. 

Alexa hadn't expected such a strong visceral reaction. She realized now that perhaps she had overstepped a little bit, she didn't know Ruby and it was wrong to try and force her to have holiday cheer. 

She sat on the barstool, not even paying attention until Liv was in front of her. 

"You got some kind of nerve showing up here. If you wanted to get back at Ruby for the stripper name joke, you got your pound of flesh. Leave her alone Bliss." Liv warned, anger written all over the girl's face. 

"I was trying to do something nice for her." Alexa protested, trying to get Liv to see her side. "I just wanted her bookstore to be beautiful."

"It already is beautiful, just because it doesn't match your standards of beauty doesn't mean it's less than," Liv argued back, wanting to knock Alexa right on her ass. "You shouldn't have fucked with Ruby's shop, you might have meant well but you were wrong." 

Alexa felt guilt curling up in her stomach, she had been so caught up in trying to rush through her mission that she had ended up hurting Ruby and making it worse. "I owe her an apology." 

Liv eyed her warily. "You can try, but she isn't going to be happy to see your face right now. She's pretty upset." 

Alexa nodded and stood up. "Can I buy two beers for the road?"

"I don't see why not, don't drink and drive." Liv handed over the two beers, and watched Alexa walk out. If Ruby was still upset later, Liv would make sure the girl paid in full. Nobody got to upset her best friend and get away with it.   
\--  
Ruby was seriously pissed off though, anger radiating through her as she finished cleaning out the holiday crap in her store. She hated the holidays and hated that the blonde girl had broken into her shop. Ruby had security cameras, she had reviewed them and it only made her angrier. 

She heard the door chime again, and looked up ready to unload hell on somebody but was surprised to see Alexa. 

"Get out! Get out of my store, you aren't welcome here." Ruby snarled, fighting back tears as she charged at Alexa. 

The elf held her ground, not even flinching when Ruby grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. "I am sorry Ruby." 

Ruby wanted to shake the stranger, wanted to make her feel as broken as she felt. Alexa had invaded her safe space and disrespected her wishes, it felt like a violation. Yet, at Alexa's apology Ruby's fingers loosened their grip on Alexa's shirt. 

"Why did you do it?" Ruby asked, her gaze searching. "Was it because of the stripper name thing, I am sorry. I shouldn't have said that." 

Alexa felt her heartbreaking for Ruby. "Do you want the truth?" 

Ruby simply nodded her head. "It'd be a nice place to start." 

"I'm an elf-" 

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "I thought you said you were gonna tell me the truth." 

Alexa huffed. "Stop interrupting me, I am telling you the truth." She brushed her hair back to show Ruby her ears. "I am or I guess was Santa's head elf. If I wanted my spot back I had to bring back the Christmas cheer in the one person who seemed to lack it the most." 

The bookstore owner was doing her best to swallow down all this information, it really was a lot to take in. "Okay so you're an elf and allegedly Santa is real. I think I follow you so far." Ruby's tone was devoid of mocking but it wasn't like she totally believed Alexa either. 

"Santa is real, reindeers are real, elves are real. Look I went about it the wrong way, I tried to rush my assignment so I could go back to my fancy job. Honestly, I don't think I deserve it now, I messed up and I am sorry Ruby." Alexa said looking her in the eyes, trying to be as sincere as possible. "Can I ask why you hate Christmas though?" 

"I don't hate just Christmas, I hate the holidays in general. When I was sixteen my grandpa died and even though he was sick he always made the holidays special. He gave all he had to charities, ran the local donation collecting for the kids in hospitals. When he died I just hated the holidays." Ruby answered, looking down at her hands. She missed the man so much, everybody was so wrapped up in the wants that they forgot what Christmas was really about. 

"I feel broken without him." Ruby continued, tears starting to fall. 

Alexa listened and gave a sympathetic smile. "I am sorry for your loss, but maybe you could honor him by making new traditions. Donating books to the orphanage, or a percentage of the sales to feeding the hungry and giving blankets to the homeless. You don't have to celebrate but you don't have to be alone either." Alexa suggested, trying to appeal to the softer side of Ruby. She walked to Ruby's side and gently wiped away her tears. "I'd like to help fix that broken feeling and replace it with cheer."

Ruby didn't look so convinced. "I am not really a cheerful kind of person elf." She cautioned, she didn't think she was the type of person who would be welcomed at holiday events 

"Maybe not but perhaps you could be what this town needs? Not everybody's celebration of the holidays has to be the same." Alexa reasoned, she found herself no longer caring about being the head elf. Maybe her year was better spent working on helping Ruby find true happiness. 

"Hey, Ruby..." Alexa trailed off, seeing that Ruby was also deep in thought. "You maybe wanna grab some cocoa? I brought some beers, but I'm not much of a drinker. Know a good place?" 

Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "I think I might know of one, why, are you sticking around for a bit Ms. Bliss?" 

Alexa nodded her head. "I think my year just cleared up, let's go get that cocoa and we can talk about some small ways for you to love the holidays again." 

"You can try to convince me, who knows maybe you'll succeed." Ruby relented, she wanted to honor her grandfather. Perhaps being cold-hearted and shutting people out was not the way to go about it. For the first time in over ten years, the cold chambers of her heart started to feel a little warmer.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so first off thanks to my friends on tumblr flickkick for the title and my buddy Rach for pushing me to finish this thing. This story is for them. 
> 
> Also I am so deep in the Ruby/Alexa, Riott Squad trash pile I don't see and end. I feel like there should be more holiday AUs out there for the female wrestlers. So I guess this is my challenge to my fellow writers. Write a cliche holiday/hallmark drabble about your favorite pairing. 
> 
> \- Becks


End file.
